by Kim

Ninjas, especially LEGO Ninjago, are very big at my house.  My 6 year old is very into them and so is his 4 year old sister.  My son takes martial arts classes, so the interest is even more strengthened.

The idea for this project started with my 4 year old daughter wanting to be a yellow ninja. If any of you watch the Ninjago show then you know the girl in the show is actually a seriously awesome samurai, but my daughter simply has to be a ninja.  So we made her a yellow Ninjago ninja and named it.  This activity was such a hit. My son now wants to make these for his birthday invitations.

All you will need are construction paper, scissors, glue, and a pencil.

Trace a bowl or lid to make a circle on the construction paper.  This will be the color of your ninja.

Let your child cut out the circle.

Then cut a rectangle out of yellow construction paper.  Glue the rectangle to your colored circle.

While the children are gluing on the rectangle, you can be cutting out smaller circles and rectangles.  You may want to cut these out before the activity starts.

Have your children glue on the eyes inside of the rectangle.

At this point I had my children look at our ninja faces and compare them to the Ninjago faces we were referencing.  I asked them to figure out what was missing.  Instantly they noticed the eyebrows.

Now glue on the eyebrows.  At first my children put them on straight and separated from the eyes, but noticed it looked off.  They mimicked the eyebrows of a real Ninjago ninjas by angling and connecting the eyebrows to the eyes. It was truly neat to watch them compare and make adjustments.

They finished their ninjas with great pride.

FUN VARIATION: Make your ninja out of craft foam and use them as bath toys because they will float and stick to the tub when wet.  Who doesn’t love a good ninja bath?